Studio stocking fillers

As this is our last blog post of the year we thought a stocking filler wish list would be a great way to get out of having to write something of substance!

So in no particular order, here's bunch of cost effective and cool stuff that will give you the perfect excuse to slip away into your studio whilst the relatives argue, because as Einstein's theory of relativity states "time goes more slowly when you're with your relatives".

DIYRE colour palette and modules:
Occasionally a product comes along that makes you wonder why nobody thought of it before. A 500 series host "palette" can be loaded with your choice of 3 analogue saturation and distortion circuit boards (so called "colours"), each of which can be added to the signal path individually. And there are kit versions. And it's very cost effective .. http://www.diyrecordingequipment.com/collections/colour

Orchid Electronics re-amping box:
A complete no-brainer, great product at a great price, and John at Orchid is a gentleman .. http://www.orchid-electronics.co.uk/Amp_Interface.htm

Stage Electrics GPO patch cords:
If you own a type B GPO patchbay you know the expense of buying or making patch cords. Stage Electrics have the answer. How do they produce these so cheaply!? Brilliant .. http://www.stage-electrics.co.uk/shop/sales/extension-cables/audio/cables---screened---gpo-jack-type-'b'

Yamaha Rev500:
The reverb effect processor that Yamaha put in their O1 and O2 series mixers are selling for a pittance on eBay. Absolutely the greatest reverb editing interface ever.

Electro Harmonix Soul Food overdrive pedal:
Ridiculously cheap and ridiculously grungy! .. http://www.ehx.com/products/soul-food

RPGT Photography softbox lighting kit:
OK, so they're cheap and won't stand up to professional or outdoor use, but for £60 you get 2 lights and stands that work brilliantly for lighting your YouTube video productions .. http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00NGCXJ2A?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00

e-Instruments Session Keys Electric R Rhodes piano instrument plug in:
Our current favourite Rhodes at a discounted price .. http://www.e-instruments.com/instruments/pianos/session-keys-electric-r/

Are We Still Rolling by Phill Brown:
An account of a life at the recording console, Phill's book is an amazing journey through the history of recording and "indulgence". What we can't work out is how he remembered it all! .. http://www.phillbrown.net

Bumblebee RM5 ribbon mic kit:
Arthur Fisher's excellent and cost effective ribbon mic. It's a kit, but even a 5 year olds could assemble it. Take the plunge ..  http://www.bumblebeepro.com/products.php?disp=3503

And finally .. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUU8vjSTpP8

Have a great Christmas.
FairFax

Why we shouldn't mourn the demise of the "music industry"

The music industry as we know it today was only ever a temporary aberration. In its current form it owes it existence to 3 technical innovations. These 3 innovations allowed a lucky few to profit in ways that previous generations of musicians could only dream of.

The first was the invention of the gramophone. This made it possible for a recorded performance of a composition to be duplicated and purchased and for an audience to listen to it where and when they wanted. The gramophone could not be easily pirated and an industry grew to exploit the vast profit potential. 

For the past 70 years or so we have come to accept this version of the "industry" as the norm. But it wasn't always like this. Before gramophones, music was either performed live to a small audience (opera audiences were bigger because opera singers are louder) or sold as sheet music for families to enjoy at home (many families had pianos). Music was much more about community and shared experience. Folk musicians in particular didn't expect to earn fortunes. They were part of a tradition that shared music.

The second innovation was commercial broadcast radio financed by advertising. Now a live performance could be broadcast to hundreds of thousands, and when recording technologies arrived those performances could be recorded and broadcast again and again for additional ad revenues. In order to maximise sales, the companies that bought the advertising began to dictate how music should be conceived and created and the 3 minute pop song was born.

The 3rd innovation was electrical amplification and the development of the PA. Now a live performance could be heard by thousands. Paying thousands.

Musicians and composers didn't complain about any of these innovations, why would they? But now the Internet and new technologies are undermining this business model. Yes, digital technologies are devaluing music as a commodity, but NOT as an art form. Now we may begin to ask ourselves why should music makers have ever earned fortunes from music when farmers, teachers, nurses and coal miners earn so little?

The true value of music can't be defined by sales figures, critics or the phoney awards given out by the industry as part of their marketing strategies. Music is an art form of the people and for the people. 

Now that everyone has the means to create, record, market and distribute their own music it would seem that music may finally be returning to whence it came and perhaps should have stayed. Music lovers will make, record, perform and listen to the music they love, not for money but for the shared pleasure of a great art form, and the critics, curators, middle men and exploiters can go to hell.

For us home and project studio owners this is good news. We can forget about the money and concentrate on the music. It doesn't matter how many or how few people hear or love our music, only that we benefit from the huge personal satisfaction that the creative process brings us.

Thanks for reading and watching
FairFax

There's tape and there's tape

The analogue tape versus digital non linear audio recording (DAWs) debate is probably academic now that tape is no longer a practical option for the vast majority of amateur and professional sound engineers. However, it's still an interesting subject and for digital natives who have never used tape there are lessons to be learnt.

24 track 2" recorder

As with most evaluations we must always remember to qualify the parameters of what we are comparing. Statements such as "tape sounds better" are clearly going to be incorrect if we are comparing 24bit digital with a compact cassette based portastudio.

The reference point for most engineers who still evangelise tape will be 24 track 2" running at 30ips with Dolby SR noise reduction. Such systems were (and are?) hugely expensive to purchase, operate and maintain. The last time we checked back in 1995, a reel of 2" cost upward of £130 in London and lasted about 16 minutes ( if memory serves). A decent 24 track recorder would have set you back £20k+ and 24 channels of Dolby SR, well forget about it.

A reel of Ampex 456 2" tape

The last multitrack we used had some form of DBX noise reduction which turned hi frequency sounds like cymbals and triangles into weird modulated sounds. Bear in mind that 16+ tracks of analogue without NR could be intolerable unless you had a rack of noise gates, which many studios were forced to purchase.

The more cost effective 16 track 1" recorders were game changers for home studios but even if you liked their sonics no sane person could argue that they even began to approach the frequency response and distortion specs of 24bit digital.

The problem is that we may love what tape can do to a signal but not for every source. There are lots of sounds we need to hear back unaltered.

Understandably this has lead to the development of new outboard processors and plug-ins which seek to add some tape saturation and distortion flavour to those sounds we think sound better with it. To many of us this seems a great compromise. All the pleasing sonic aspects of tape without the wow and flutter, crosstalk, inter modulation noise, hiss and tape degradation issues (although no doubt someone somewhere is programming a plug-in that does these too!).

Slate Digital Virtual  Tape Machine plug-in

Those of us who struggled with tape on a daily basis during the 80s and 90s are delighted with digital and somewhat bemused by some digital natives enthusiasm for vinyl and tape. 

Maybe everyone should be compelled to finance and record at least one LP on tape and then share their experiences. Now wouldn't that be an interesting debate?

Thanks for reading and watching
FairFax

How good are your teachers?

At some point in our education we start to question our teachers. Not just ask about the subject at hand, but actually wonder how accurate and comprehensive their knowledge is. Are we getting a good deal?

This wasn't always the case. In general we don't question or teachers knowledge until we leave school. That's the time when we begin to wonder if our parents are always right, and if the TV news can be trusted.

As adults we have to question almost every source before trusting it. The web and YouTube is awash with advice, much of it good, but mostly poorly written and presented, of questionable quality and often downright wrong. So what constitutes a reliable source?

Take sound engineering. One of our team members is in his 50's. When he was a teenager there were no formal qualifications or lessons at his school and none that he knew of at college or university. And of course no internet. His first book on the subject was called "You and Your Tape Recorder" and it contained the advice that if you left your voice activated mic on the windowsill at night, in the morning you'd have a lovely recording of bird song!

There were also some more authoritative books such as John Borwick's Sound Recording Practice, but these books were targeted at professional studio engineers and not home recording enthusiast on a budget.

As affordable home recording equipment became available in the 1980s, tec publishers started commissioning books on music technology, sound recording and MIDI etc.

The thing about books, is that we know they have gone through some kind of process before being published. To ensure good reviews (often by other industry experts) they will usually have been scrutinised by editors and checked by other professionals for errors. In short they have been curated and although not fool proof this still counts for something. Publishing and marketing physical books is expensive, surely they checked!

At Project Studio Handbook we have all benefited from reading great books written by expert authors, known in their field with proven track records. In recent years esteemed producers and engineers have published fascinating biographies, but not always containing the kind of technical detail us home recordists crave.

Today, the emerging generation of engineers and musicians don't read books or manuals. Why should they? YouTube has videos on every conceivable topic and process. We are in the video tutorial age. We go to YouTube first. But can we believe everything we see and hear?

OK, so a video telling us how to get a killer kick drum sound in Cubase (God give us strength!) is straight forward enough, but what if we want to learn what some theory, such as what a compressor does. We haven't seen a single video that accurately and comprehensively covers the subject (yes of course we have a playlist in the works!).

So, here's our checklist for helping to determine if a video is likely to contain accurate theoretical information ..

1. The presenter is using a script (you can't ad lib technical subjects and theory, the language needs to be accurate)
2. The shots are well lit and composed
3. Voice over is accompanied by cutaways that illustrate the points being made
4. Animations are used (they are hard to produce so you know some serious effort has been made)
5. The presenter does not start the video by saying "What's happening?".

Perhaps you have your own criteria?

That's it for this week. We're off to search for videos on stereo recording. We have plenty of great books an articles on the subject, but hey, video is better, isn't it?!

Thanks for watching and reading
FairFax

5 essential monitor controller features

As we know, a monitor controller performs the functions of a master module in a recording console for DAW users who don't have, or need, a mixer through which their signals are routed.

DAW, monitor controller and control surfaces

Positioning is important. We need to be able to grab the volume control easily, so many studio owners position them close to hand at the monitoring position.

A well used (and worn!) Mackie Big Knob

Monitor controllers come in all shapes and sizes from the simple volume pot of the TC Electronic Level Pilot to the comprehensive Grace Designs m905.

TC Electronic Level Pilot

Grace Designs m905

Many audio interfaces have built in monitor controller features too, but whatever we choose we can all agree that some form of physical control (knobs!) over our monitor signals is preferable to grabbing a mouse and moving a virtual on-screen master fader (not least because many of us fear the potential damage to our monitors caused by a software glitch or crash).

Before listing what we think are the essential features to look out for, here's a list of typical features found on a monitor controller ..

1. Volume - this should be a reasonably large and robust pot.
2. Metering - preferable to having to look at on-screen meters when adjusting volume
3. Mute switch - mutes the volume
4. Dim switch - lowers the volume
5. Sum to mono switch - its arguable how important this is when virtually all audio is played in stereo, but perhaps you mix in mono for clubs?
6. Speaker select - many of us have multiple sets of monitors and checking mixes on low budget computer speakers or grot boxes in addition to our primary monitors is very useful.
7. Source select - for DAW stereo outs, CD player, laptop outputs etc.
8. Record player phono input is useful
9. Analogue and digital paths
10. Headphone output and level control
11. Talkback mic with latching button

Choosing the 5 essential features is harder when you consider that we all have very different needs. If you are relatively new to studio ownership multiple inputs may be of little use to you, whilst others will find it hard to do without inputs for their record, CD and DAT players. If you record in a single/control room, talkback may not be high on your list either. So with that in mind, here's are recommendations ..

1. Volume (doh!)
2. Mute switch - it's essential when you need to leave your monitoring level undisturbed
3. Speaker select - switching between main monitors and a typical consumer end-user system is invaluable
4. Headphone output and level control - the alternative is having to by a dedicated headphone amp and then figuring out how to integrate it
5. Talkback mic - even if you only record in your control room you'll find this essential when producing a performer, and we all run leads out to other rooms sometimes

Thanks for reading and watching.
FairFax

5 essential guitar pedals all project studio owners should own

Almost all guitar tones comprise a combination of ..

- guitarist technique
- guitar
- effect pedals
- amp / cabinet
- mic and positioning

If you are a project or home studio owner who either plays electric guitar, or records guitar players, you may want to have some pedals effects on hand.

Unlike other instruments, pedal effects are usually an integral part of a guitar tone and therefore recorded live as part of the signal. A guitarist's performance often relies on the way these pedals respond to their playing technique so adding them afterwards isn't always desirable or effective.

Here are 5 pedals you should consider owning ..

1. Compressor. Essential for transient and tone shaping, adding sustain, and smoothing out the dynamics of tight funky rhythm parts. Think Nile Rodgers. Celebrated models include the MXR DynaComp and the Xotic SP.

2. Overdrive / boost pedal. These pedals are used to drive an amp's clean channel into distortion by boosting the signal from the guitar. The amount of amp distortion depends on a guitarist playing technique. Hit the strings harder for more break-up. They differ from a distortion channel on an amp in which distortion is usually always present. Some of these pedals have additional distortion circuits controlled by a Gain or Drive control. Essential for those Stevie Ray Vaughn tones. Celebrated models include the Ibanez TS808 Tube Screamer.

3. Fuzz pedal. Essential ingredient in adding a synth-like sustained distortion to lead sounds. Fuzz pedals add a fizzy sustained distortion to a signal that can be toned down with a treble cut control. Think Ernie Isley and Shine On You Crazy Diamond. Celebrated models include ProCo RAT, Fuzz Face, and Electro Harmonix Big Muff.

4. Phaser pedal. For some reason the rich effect of pedal phasing has yet to be fully replicated in plug-ins. Celebrated models include the MXR Phase 90 and Electro Harmonix Small Stone.

5. Wah-wah. Essentially a foot controllable band pass sweep filter with resonance, this effect should be placed firmly under the control of the performer. Where would the Theme From Shaft be without it!. Celebrated models include the Dunlop Cry Baby.

Providing you have a re-amping box, all of these effects can also be used on keyboards, drum machines and any other line level signal you have recorded to your DAW.

There are of course, many other types of pedal but some, such as delay and reverb, are best added with outboard or plug-ins after recording.

Thanks for watching and reading
FairFax

The perfect recording studio engineers chair

It's the last thing you think about when building your studio, and yet the right chair might just be the most important purchase you make. The ergonomics of setting up an effective monitoring environment have been discussed endlessly ..

- near field triangle
- distance between monitors
- acoustic treatments
- tweeters at ear level
- reflections from mixing surface
- etc

.. but how much attention do we spend considering the best way to support ourselves during the long hours of editing and mixing?

Having been through ten different chairs over the last 20 years, we think we have discovered the ultimate studio chair, and guess what, it's a 57 year old design that was never intended for use in studios. In our quest we have tried ..

- office chairs (cheap, plastic and creaky)
- designer chairs (couldn't take the use and abuse)
- stools (never again)
- dinning room chairs (too uncomfortable)

We learnt a lot from these failures, so and here are the qualities we think are required for the perfect chair ..

- castors - you've got to be able to move around a bit to reach all your gear
- swivel - of course it must turn
- height adjustable - get those feet flat on the floor
- comfortable back support
- leather upholstery - great for maintenance
- steel arm rests - to take the abuse

And the perfect chair is? The Charles Eames steel frame office chair. Not only does it meet all our criteria, but it's a design classic, and excellent reproductions can be had for £150 on eBay.

Thanks for watching and reading
FairFax

Top 10 studio maintenance tips

For many of us it has taken years of hard work and saving to build the studio we want. Along the way we face many unforeseen hurdles. Two of the greatest are insufficient clean power from a domestic supply, and a suitable room.

But the perhaps the biggest problem arises when you have multiple pieces of equipment, a percentage of which need maintenance. One of the reasons we build studios is to create minimal barriers to getting creative. We have our gear setup exactly how we want it all the time. It is therefore intensely frustrating to have to troubleshoot failures when all we want to do is record a great idea.

Here are our top ten tips for ensuring you minimise downtime.

1. Intermittent contacts in your monitoring signal chain can have a devastating impact, especially if you complete work without realising the problem exists. Dirty contacts can create imaging and phase problems that may go unnoticed. If your studio monitors connect via 1/4" jacks, remove and clean them with isopropyl alcohol once a month. Next monitor controller you buy, check it has wire strips, XLR or Speakon connections.

2. Invest in an uninterrupted power supply (UPS) to protect your precious data from brownouts. Buy one that supports your main studio computer and any external drives you have.

3. Run a disk check utility one a month and repair any FAT and permissions errors it encounters. Many modern OS's perform these functions when asleep at night, but you may power down your studio DAW and it may never get a chance to repair itself.

4. If you have digital hardware synths and processors check backup battery status and replace if necessary. Take a note of the dates and add a calendar event to your diary to remind you to check again in 5 years. Then perform a MIDI systems exclusive dump to your DAW.

5. If you have a critical fader or pot that is crackly, such as your master monitor volume control, replace it immediately. Don't try to clean it just replace it.

6. Power up any gear you have not used in the last 6 months and turn every control on it back and forth a few times. The grease in potentiometers and faders can coragulate and movement can help prevent it.

7. Power up any external backup hard drives you use for archiving and let them spin for a few minutes. Read and write a file to them. They use grease on their spindles too.

8. Dust your gear. Dust is the enemy of pots and faders. Buy a small paintbrush and use it to brush dust towards the nozzle of a vacuum cleaner.

9. If you are lucky enough to own a ribbon microphone store it upright. If you lie it on its side the ribbon motor can sag, spoiling performance.

10. Stay hygienic. Ill health is always an unwelcome interruption. Clean your keyboard, mouse, pots, faders and control surfaces regular with anti-bacteria wipes. You can remove fader caps and pots, place them in a bowl of warm water mixed with a little bleach and leave them for a hour.

Perhaps you have a suggestion for something we've missed? Let us know.

Thanks for watching and reading.
FairFax

You already have enough gear!

This week one of our team came to the earth shattering conclusion that he didn't need any more gear in his home studio. His wish list had dwindled to zero.

He had been buying equipment since the early 1980s starting with a 4-track port-a-studio and then moving on to 1/4" 8-track, 1/2" 16-track, ADAT and finally a Mac system with Pro Tools. But as his income had increased (he runs a small recruitment company) outboard gear that was once unaffordable had been purchased and every unattainable piece of gear he had ever wanted was now sitting in his rack.

Understand that his wishes were modest, a Lexicon PCM91 rather than 480, a TK Audio stereo equaliser rather than a GML, and an affordable Neumann mic rather than a U47. Yes he has a few choice pieces, a Dangerous Music compressor, a Rupert Neve eq and some expensive monitors, but a relentless upgrade cycle that had lasted 30 years had hit the buffers. Why?

The simple answer was that he had come to accept that his equipment was not the limiting factor in the recordings he wants to make. He is the limiting factor. His skills, his knowledge, his creativity, and the decisions he makes every time he arranges, records and mixes a piece of music.

It is true that the thrill of a new purchase was a thrill no more. Unpacking, installing, reading the manual and learning how to get the best from a new piece of gear had become a chore, but only because he knew it was unlikely to make his music and recordings any better.

So he has decided to put the money he would have spent on new gear to better use. He's buying himself more free time so he can practice his keyboard playing, work on his engineering skills and improve his decision making processes.

We know he's right (but us gear junkies still hate him for it!).

Thanks for reading and watching.
FairFax

Do we need more features in our DAW software?

This week Apple released version 10.2 of Logic Pro X (http://www.apple.com/logic-pro/whats-new/). Having glanced at the list of new features, we Googled "Logic Pro X release notes" and found this .. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203718 .. which includes an impressive list of bug fixes, including a couple which will make us feel a lot more confident when using the application.

Is it just us or are bug fixes more important than new features? Sure the new workflow features are welcome, and the Alchemy synth is fine (although we're not sure there's anything particularly new here), but having a stable and reliable platform to get music production work done seems more important somehow.

The New Alchemy synth in Logic Pro X 10.2

The time has long passed when the average DAW user knew, let alone used, all of the features DAWs offer, but it is true that each of us will have a different needs and working practices.

But how many of us buy new pieces of gear hoping they will produce the results we want without first getting to know our existing gear? Guilty! Are there really any limitations to the music and sounds we can produce and process in Logic, or Cubase, or Live etc? If there are, we must be close to eliminating them.

The last 10 years must be close to being the least innovative in terms of sound design/engineering originality. With many artists, producers, sound engineers and gear manufacturers focused on re-creating the classic sounds of yesteryear is it any wonder?

The problem is that even if we are attempting original sound design with our gear, its hard to produce anything truly original. It's mostly been done before. We're just not sure originality can be created with gear anymore. No matter how talented we are, we can't impress with sound design alone anymore.

All is not lost however! The individual voice that results from unique songwriting and musicianship will always produces original artists we want to hear. Many will argue that our gear is no longer the problem. We have a fantastic choice. But we can always innovate when it comes to songwriting, arranging and performance.

At Project Studio Handbook we have a long list of technical to-dos, including repairs, learning new software, creating a better DAW song template etc. Our list of new song ideas is considerably shorter. Time to do something about it!

Thanks for watching and reading.
FairFax

Who told you vinyl is superior to CD?

Like many teenagers who grew up in the 1970s, several of our team were obsessed with music and amassed vast record collections. In those days there wasn't much competition for their attentions. No mobile phones, no video games, no on-demand TV, and you only got to see the latest films if you went to the cinema (yeah .. no VHS or DVD!).

Despite the fact that they couldn't afford record players capable of retrieving all the information from their precious records, they became accustomed to the sound of vinyl. It was the norm.

And then CD happened. They complained that CDs sounded too bright and harsh (hi-frequencies are difficult to cut to vinyl and are therefore rolled off during mastering). And all the Hi-Fi mags declared the superiority of vinyl. You must understand that the hi-fi critics all had hi-end Naim amps and Linn Sondek turntables and the like (think £1000 worth of gear), and had a great deal of investment to protect. It's also true that early CD players weren't the best (it took several years for DACs to improve). However, no-one could deny the sound quality improvements CDs delivered such as the lack of wow and flutter, consistency of quality throughout an LP, low noise, wide dynamic range and increased frequency response.

As the record companies began to re-release old albums on CD, those who knew professional musicians and artists were aghast to see them throw out their record collections en-masse and replace them with CDs. Why would they do that? They'd spent a lifetime collecting them, and didn't vinyl sound better?

What they knew, and we didn't, was the simple fact that CD sounded much, much closer to the mix masters they created in the studio, even if these masters were  analogue (2-track 1/2"). They knew that vinyl was always a compromise and disappointment.

Of course, none of this evidence means that the audience isn't allowed to like vinyl. It has a sound that can be pleasing to many. But unless an album is mixed specifically for vinyl, it will not sound the way the creators intended when they mixed it.

We listen to vinyl every day, and love it. But we would never claim that it's sound is technically superior. Here are some of the technical problems ..

* compromised frequency response - you can't cut deep bass and hi treble to vinyl
* compromised dynamic range - you can't cut loud to vinyl, and too wide a dynamic range means much of the sound will be spoilt by noise
* distortion - as the needled moves towards the centre of the record that angle of incidence increases, and the speed of rotation slows, and distortion increases (this is why the last tracks on albums are often ballads with sparser arrangements)
* wow and flutter - its hard to spin an object in perfect motion
* noise - it's OK to like clicks and pops but they're not exactly intended

The electro mechanical problems associated with vinyl are huge and it is inferior to digital in almost every way. It is true that because vinyl lacks hi-end detail, deep low end, and adds harmonic distortion it may seem to add a "warmth" to the sound which many like, but it cannot faithfully reproduce the quality of most studio masters. 12" 45rpm vinyl produces the best quality but it still falls short of CD quality digital.

So let's enjoy both mediums, but remember that when someone tells us that vinyl is superior, they only mean they prefer it.

Thanks for watching and reading.
FairFax

Every time we mix, we learn something new

We've recently finished mixing a new album by Matt Ottewill in his home studio.

The great advantage of a home studio is being able to refine mixes without the interruption of other clients or sessions. We can take our time and leave everything setup for days or even weeks as we check and correct mixes.

There are however many disadvantages ..

1. Without the pressure of time limitations there's always the danger of over mixing until everything is so 'perfect' the excitement is sucked out.
2. The opinions of others such as engineers are missed.
3. Without proper acoustic studio design, judging correct bass level is challenging.
4. Project fatigue increases as time goes on.

Dave Stewart once said you never finish a project, just abandon it. You can judge for yourself how well we did by heading over to Matt's site (www.mattottewill.com) and watching the first music video from the album, which will have been uploaded by the time you read this. The album is due for release very shortly.

During the mixing we did learned  something new. We were using PMC monitors, which are well known for their flat frequency response even at very low volumes. This means the bass balance doesn't change. This was great for helping us judge bass levels but we noticed that when we switched to Matt's KRKs, the quieter we monitored the louder the lead vocal and snare sounded relative to the other sounds.

We quickly realised that this was because human hearing is particularly attuned to these frequencies and this causes a perceptual shift in balance. The KRKs were emphasising this, the PMCs were not. When the monitoring balance was raised our perception of the correct balance was restored.

At least, we think that this is what was happening. Do you know better? It would be great to hear from you.

Thanks for reading and watching
FairFax

Why your studio need a UPS

Here at Project Studio Handbook, between us we've been running home studios for over 53 years and at no time have we ever felt the need of a UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supply). Until last week when over the course of three days we experienced five brown-outs. 

We all know pulling the plug on the computer is akin to hitting someone over the head with a baseball bat. And yet for the most part our computers and connected hard drives seem to survive the occasional interruption in the power supply. However when we rely on our systems for work and have critical data stored that may have taken weeks or years to create, we cannot be confident that disaster is not just around the corner. 

As you may know, a brown-out is a temporary interruption in the power supply that lasts for a fraction of a second but is enough to crash digital systems. Blackout is of course a longer power outage that may last minutes, hours or even days. 

Following a series of brown-outs we investigated every item in the studio to see if there wasn't an issue which could be fixed by removing and repairing a faulty device.

After several days of diagnosis we couldn't find anything wrong and concluded that the brown-outs were due to interruptions in the local power supply to the building. We therefore decided it was time to protect our DAW, NAS, router and connected hard disks with a UPS device.

Our new CyberPower UPS protects our Mac system, NAS, Router and online backup drives

Put simply, a UPS is a device that takes over the job of supplying power to devices if the mains power supply to the building cuts out. It comprises a large battery and several outlets to which you connect the devices you wish to protect. You plug the UPS into the mains power to keep the battery at maximum charge. 

You can also let your devices know they are attached to a UPS by connecting them with USB cables. When the UPS kicks in they can perform safe shut downs. Once connected with a USB cable, Windows, Mac OS X, and NAS drives can detect if they are connected to a UPS and provide control panel parameters to allow you to configure what they should do if the UPS kicks in. For example you might configure them to perform a controlled shutdown immediately or wait until the UPS battery is down to a specified percentage. 

When you choose a UPS you should ensure that the total wattage output it is capable of can accommodate the total wattage needs of all the devices you intend to connect to it. It is not necessary to have a UPS that can take over power supply for an extended period of time. A battery that only lasts 15 minutes will be sufficient to ensure your devices can shut down safely. 

You should consider the following when buying a UPS ...

Total wattage required
Size and strength of battery
Number and type of power outlet connectors
True sinewave output, which is required for some computer power supplies
USB connection and hub if you plan on collecting multiple devices
A good LCD display read out on the front which indicates load and battery charge status

The CyberPower CP1500EPFCLCD we purchased. Rated for 1500VA/900Watts, provides 10 minutes of back-up, more than enough to allow our systems to shut down safely

Thanks for watching and reading
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Guitar re-amping

We all know that a great advantage of digital recording is the ability to keep our options open and delay making technical and artistic decisions until the last moment.

With unlimited tracks, and MIDI and software instruments running live we can leave it until the last moment before deciding what sounds, performances and effects will make it to the final mix.

With the advent of software like Melodyne and Logic's Flex time and pitch algorithms, we can even change the melody lines sung by singers or played by acoustic instruments.

One instrument, however, differs from all others. The tone of an electric guitar is primarily created with a combination of player technique, instrument and amplifier/cabinet. But what if we want the option of changing the tone after recording the performance? This requires recording the direct pickup output (a so called DI signal) from the guitar, and there are many channel strips and audio interfaces that provide a suitable DI input, and then later sending the recording through some amp simulation software plug-ins.

But many players rely on the responsiveness and vibe of the sound coming from their amplifier to create a great performance. You will be aware that valve guitar amplifiers respond to playing technique to give players an extra dimension.

This is easily solved by connecting the guitar to a DI box which copies the signal. One copy is converted to a mic level signal suitable for a mic pre-amp and which once converted to line level can then be sent to a DAW, whilst the other is passed to a Link or Thru output and hence back to the performers amplifier.

This video explains the process .. http://www.projectstudiohandbook.com/videos/playlists/audio-interconnection/signal-paths-from-guitar-to-DAW/signal-paths-from-guitar-to-DAW-video.html

Using a mic on the guitar speaker it's possible to simultaneously record both the sound from the amplifier and from the guitars pickup (the DI signal).

What, however, if we want to send the recorded line level signal from your DAW back to the amplifier, and then record the tone with a mic? This process is called re-amping and requires that the line level signal is converted back into a guitar pickup signal, which has a different level and impedance.

The solution is a simple re-amping box. These boxes simply convert line level signals to guitar level signals suitable for an amplifiers guitar input circutary. So now we can even delay deciding on the exact guitar tone until the mix.

It is not the policy of Project Studio Handbook to endorse any specific products but John Godsland's hand built interconnection products are so good and so inexpensive we can't resist. The Orchid Electronics Amp Interface box is a no-brainer.

We can of course also use a re-amping box to send any recorded or line level signal to a guitar amplifier, allowing us to process synths, acoustic instruments and vocals too. Suddenly a whole new area of sonic experimentation is available.

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Do we have to make money from our music?

One of the problems with the nature of a capitalist dominated world, is that we often forget that money is not the only measure of value and success. The pleasure of being creative for purely personal reasons is rarely promoted, but we can all derive huge pleasure from making private creative breakthroughs in our music.

Music composition and recording can be an essential part of our lives without needing to generate income. There is nothing quite like the feeling of creating a great chord progression and melody, writing the perfect lyric, or achieving the perfect snare drum sound.

These can be solitary experiences and need not be shared at all. If we follow our creative impulses without considering what others might think (have you ever done this?), chances are that you will produce something that pleases you but which contains elements that you would be self-conscious about sharing, never mind trying to sell.

So even if we don't intend to monetize our music we may be constantly considering what other might think of it as we create it. This is understandable but inhibits our natural creative urges. We're touching on issues of psychology and what we seek to gain by sharing our music with others here, but the practical question if we intend to distribute our music is should we charge for it?

If you are a professional, and make your money from your music the answer is clear, and most professionals are firmly against the idea of giving anything away for free.

Leaving aside the difficult questions of the relationship between art and commerce for the moment, if you are not a professional, why not create and freely share your music with others? Some might say that unless a listener pays for your music they won't value it. But is that really true? Value isn't just about money, its about your music affecting someone in a positive way. Making them happy. Does it matter if you never know, and never get paid for it?

If you make music in your own personal studio for the pure pleasure of it, why not consider giving it away for free. If people like it, some of them will let you know, and you will have contributed a little more happiness to the planet.

What do you think?

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So what exactly is "vintage" studio gear?

If you're like us you probably spend several minutes each day browsing used gear on eBay. You may even have saved searches and notifications turned on (though in our experience the iPad version is very buggy!).

In recent months two new trend's have emerged.

Firstly few items are offered as genuine low start price auctions with most sellers setting silly reserve prices and even sillier Buy Now prices. If you watch these items, few sell immediately and some never. eBay used to be the place for genuine auctions but as far as studio gear goes those days seem to be largely gone.

The other trend involves sellers describing almost any gear more than 10 years old as "vintage". Some of the items described thus are laughable and clearly just an attempt to hoodwink uninformed buyers. Many are early budget digital devices which whilst having a "unique" sound (eg poor!), were never universally  praised in their day!

For example, are any of these "vintage" to you? ..

Yamaha SPX90 effects
Yamaha DX7 synthesiser
Roland DEP5 effects
DBX 160XT compressor
Lexicon LXP5 effects
EMU ESI-32 sampler
Akai S1000 sampler
Korg DDD5 drum machine
Roland D50 synthesiser

Is the (1999) Akai S6000 "vintage"?

But it got us thinking. Just what exactly is "vintage"? If it means gear more than a fixed number of years old (eg 30), then "vintage" will mean different things to different people.

For the older folks here at PSHB vintage means having all or most of these attributes ..

still highly regarded for its sonic qualities
manufactured at least 30-40 years ago
produces a sound hard to achieve with modern equivalents
has value which is likely to increase with time
age and wear and tear has improved its sonic character

So we would regard these as vintage ..

Neumann U47 microphone
Moog MiniMoog
1950's Fender Stratocaster
Early Lexicon 224
Original Teletronix LA2A limiter

.. and all except the Moog and Lexicon were relatively affordable in their day.

Is the early 1980s Roland SH101 "vintage"?

And what about "rare"? Well vintage gear may be rare but it doesn't have to be, and just because a device is hard to come by doesn't mean it was ever any good or even desirable. It may be rare because owners value them and don't want to resell, or it may be because it was unsuccessful, not many were made or few working or repairable units are available anymore.

Is the 1987 Oberheim M6R "vintage"?

So, what do you regard as "vintage"? And more importantly, how much are you willing to pay for it?

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How to make a simple audio cable hook device

All studio owners dream of a future in which their studio audio connections can be streamed wirelessly, and leads and cables are a thing of the past. But this is unlikely to ever happen. Imagine the different frequencies required to transmit the multiple signals that regularly flow between devices, to say nothing of the expensive of all those converters, transmitters and receivers.

So for now we must stick with our cables. To be fair, for the most part analogue and digital audio leads and cables work extremely well and as they say, if it ain't broke don't fix it.

Our problem is where and how to store all those leads that are used temporarily such as ..

patch bay cords
mic leads
headphone leads
guitar leads
mains leads
computer interconnects

For some leads we favour a mobile kitchen drawer unit. We coil, attach a cable tie and lie them flat. This works well for some cables but for others the drawer just ends up a mess.

If space permits, a better solution is to hang some of them, which of course requires hooks. A traditional solution is to attach hooks to a length of wood and the wood to a wall. But this requires drilling into a wall, and in our studio that's impossible because the walls have stud work to accommodate layers of sound proofing materials.

Recently we came up with a simple device which hangs off the tops of our rack cabinets.

To make one all you need is ..

1. 18mm MDF- approx 8cm wide and as long as is appropriate for what you're going to hang it on. Ours upright section is 72cm long. You should get the MDF pre-cut at your timber yard. You will need an additional piece to make the top section from which the upright will hang, so add another 10cm which you can cut off with a hand saw later. If you plan to secure the top section to the cabinet with a screw, your top section need only be 6cm, as in this picture ..

2. 15mm (diameter) round dowling (also called moulding) - these will function as the hooks
3. Fixing screws

The tools you will need are ..

1. Electric screwdriver / drill
2. Saw - to cut off a length of MDF to create the top section
3. Drill bit - size 14mm to cut the holes for the dowling
4. Drill bit to drill holes for your fixing screws (slightly narrower than the screws)
5. Counter-sink drill bit - to finish off your fixing screw holes
6. Light sandpaper

Here's how to construct it ..

1. Cut your MDF so you have the upright and top sections.
2. Lightly mark the locations of the hook holes on your upright with a pencil. We spaced ours apart by 5cm.

3. Using the 14mm drill bit, drill out the hook holes. You can drill all the way through. You may want to drill half way through from one side and half way on the other to achieve a smoother finish. Although the drill bit is 1mm narrower than the dowling hooks it should create a hole that is just tight enough to accept the hooks.
4. Drill 2 holes into the top section so you can secure it to the upright piece with your fixing screws.

5. It is essential that you pre-drill the holes in the upright section to accept the screws or the MDF will split. Adjust your drill so the you are drilling exactly the length of your screws.
6. Place the top section on the upright section (you may want to use a vice or clamps), and drill down through the holes you have just drilled and into the upright section.
7. Use your counter-sink drill bit to finish the screws holes in the top section.
8. If you are plan to secure the complete device to your cabinet with a shorter top section, drill and countersink a third hole now.
9. Cut your dowling into lengths of approx 12cm.
10. Sand everything by hand.
11. Screw the top section to the upright.
12. You're done!

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